Drier



G. L. SPENCER.

DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24, I919.

V WITNESSES Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

TO V/ICUUM POMP l/VI/ENTOI? GA. SPENCZ BY A TTORNEI S GUILFORD I; SPENCER, 0F CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

DRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application filed July 24,- 1919. Serial No. 312,942.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUILFORD L. SPENCER, a citizen of the United-States, and a resident of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts,-have invented a new and Improved Drier, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to a drier, and aims to provide a device of this nature by which an operator shall be enabled rapidly to determine the amount of moisture-in laboratory tests of various substances.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an oven which enable the analyst to make rapid control tests in factory work and i in laboratories generally.

.Although this device may be used for de- P improved drier;

termining the presence of'moisture in any substance, the same is particularly adapted for use in connection with raw-sugar manufacture, in which it is essential to carefully control the moisture content of the product in order that it maybe kept within certain limits.

It is. well known that the usual tests require a period of heating of about three hours, and it will be appreciated that by that time the test will have lost much of its value, due to variation of conditions,

By means of my invention, an accurate test may be made in less than ten minutes,- and often a heating period of about three minutes'is suflicient. It will be readily ap parent that these prompt results enable an immediate control'i'n centrifugaling sugars. As aforestated, however, my invention is applicable to-the testing of;all substances,

which may be retained in place by means of a fine wireor other gauz'e so that acurrent of air may be passed through the same Reference is had to the accompanying drawings whichillustrate one practical 9111-; bodiment of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is a sectional side view of my 3, Fig. 2 is a section taken-along line 21-2 0fFig;l;

Fig". 3 is a section taken gl n li Of Fig. 1;3,11d j Fig. 4 is a slightlyinodifiedformof construction.

In all these views like reference numerals designate similar parts, and the numeral 1 indicates legs which are adapted to support a casing 2, preferably provided with; a re- J ovable lid, suchas 3, and a 'suspgndedhg ing 4. The casing 52 is divided into an upper and lower compartment by means of a horizontally-extending partition 5, which is formed with openings 6. A floor, as indicated by the reference numeral 7, prevents direct communication of the housing 4 with either of the compartments of the casing 2.. The floor 7 is formed with an opening 8, and a tube 8' seats upon such floor adjacent the edges of such opening and extends upwardly to a point slightly out of contact with the inner face of the lid 3.

with gauze bases 10, which capsules are pref-- erably fiangedat their base and ground so as to make tight joints with the partition 5, so that all air passing from the upper to the lower compartment will have to pass through the interior of the capsules 9.

The lid may be provided with a knobll through which projects a standard thermometer12 having its lower end extending into the upper end of the tube 8'.

. The housing 41 communicates at its: upper end with an opening 8 of the tube 8', and the fioor plate ],3 of thesame is suitably formed with openings, such as 14, in communication with the outer atmosphere. Spaced from the inner wall of the-casing is a collar 15of heat insulating material, such and may be firmly protected. from displacement thereby.

To insure against loss of heat, the entire inneriface of the casing 2, lid 3, floor 7, and housing 4, is provided with a layer of heat -1 insulating material, such as asbestos, 18.

' It may well be appreciated that facilities Y for furnishing electricity in sufficient quantities to properly heat the'resistance element 16, may not always be available, especially in tropical inland'towns, and for this reason I have devised the modified form of heating arrangement shown in Fig. 4. In ,this

refer to parts similar in both designs of figure, the'reference numerals alreadyused l v the reference numeral 19, with the exception of a central opening with which a pipe, such as 20, communicates. the pipe 20 is preferably connected to a cas- 5 ing, such as 21, which envelops a steam pipe 22, and which casing is open at its lower end and closed'at its upper end, so that air may freely enter the lower end and pass out through the pipe 20, after having been heated sufiiciently by means of the steam pipe'22. w In both my preferred and modified forms of drier, an air current is set up within the same which tends to force heated air I 5 through the capsules 9 by means of a 'Vacuum pump (not shown) which is connected to the lowermost compartment of'the casing 2 by means of a pipe, such as 23.

In operation it will now be appreciated that a weighed quantity of sugar, or other substance upon which the moisture test isto be made, is distributed over the gauze bottom 10 of the capsules 9 and the vacuum pump is subsequently set into operation,

I which causes a strong How of air through the openings 14 and, the resistance element 16 into the casing 2 by means of the communication afi'orded by the tube 8', which air subsequently passes through-the capsules into the lower compartment of the casing 2 and so to the vacuum pump. A fiow of current is now set up through the resistance element 16 and the temperature'proper regulated by means of a rheostat 24, or other suitable device, taken in conjunction with the thermometer 12.

In thisconnection it might be well .to state that, in desiccating sugars in laboratory analysis, a suitable drier temperature is 40 usually between 90 and 105 centigrade. A

5 strong flow of heated air of the proper temperature is maintained through the capsules and samples therein for a period of usually less than ten minutes, after which the capsules and contents are cooled, reweighed and the moisture or dry matter contents are calculated as is-customary in laboratory processes.

a Bythe description given above it will be appreciated that I v have devised a drier which will be capable of producing results in ten minutes which were heretofore not usually obtainable in less than a period of approximately three hours. I wish it understood, however, that-the-details of my'construction may be varied without in the least departing from thescope of my inventipn.

Having thus described my invention, I desire to claim:

1. A drier, including acasing, a'partition within such casing subdividing the same into an upper and a lower compartment, an air preheating element communicating with the upper compartment, said partition being formed with openings, capsules positioned The opposite end of 1 ing and terminating adjacentthe between the lower edges of the collar and '115 and within said openings, and a source of suntion communlcatmg with the lowermost compartment of the casing for drawing the heated air through the capsules. r

2. A drier, including a casing, a partition dividing such casing into upper and lower compartments, said partition being formed with openings in which capsules are adapted to be positioned, an air-heating element po-' sitioned below such casing, a tube extending from such air-heating element to the uppermost of the compartment and a source of suction in communication with the lower of the compartments whereby to draw said heated air through the capsules.

3. A drier, including a casing, a partition of the tube.

4. A drier, including a casing, a housing positioned below; such casing, a tube 'extending from the upper end of such houstop of the casing, a partition dividing the casing into an upper and a. lower compartment, said partition being formed with openings, capsules positioned within such openings, and a source of suction connected to the lower of these compartments.

5. A drier, including a casing, capsules positioned within such casing, means for drawing air through said capsules, means for preheating said air, such means including a housing positioned below the casing, a core, a resistance element extending around such core, 'a collar spaced from such core and contacting with the outer face of the resistance element, and-means for introducing air core. 7

6. A drieraincluding a casing, "a housing positioned below such casing,.a tube extending from the lower end of such casing and terminating adjacent the top of the same and communicating at its lower end with the housing, a partition dividing the casing into an upper and a lower compartment,

said partition being formed with openings,

capsules positioned within suchv openings, a source of suction connected to the lower of these compartments, said capsules seating against. the opening in said parti- 131011 111 such a 11151111161 as to form an airtight joint.

GUILFORD L. SPENCER. 

